Author's Notes: Hey all, This is something of a story I've wanted to start in an RP that depeicts Two Hundred Years after the Third Doom Island War. Many of you may be thinking "Romance, What the...?" Romance isn't always love...

Romance: a novel or other prose narrative depicting heroic or marvelous deeds, pageantry, romantic exploits, etc., usually in a historical or imaginary setting.

Well there you have it.. Everyone is invited in this... Whether you want to be part of the hero's party, or a simple villager, or even like that weird guy from Lufia: FoD that's in all the shrines... Well, let's get started. (By the way, I'm gonna just assume Estpolis is the name of the world)

Prelude:

Statues of him were erected all over the world. Maxim, the savior of Estpolis. He, his wife Selan, and his friends Guy and Artea fought against four gods of Destruction, Chaos, Death, and Terror. Though the lives of Maxim and Selan were lost, peace was restored to the world.
Everyone knew the story, twice they had forgotten it, and twice they payed. The gods known as the "Sinistrals" were often used in children's books, often to scare them into doing chores and behaving. Young boys would play the "Doom Island" game, they pretended to be the heros and the Sinistrals, and would act out the legendary battle.
Four Hundred years had past, since the death of Maxim. Many people prayed for Maxim and Selan's spirit to guide them, and bless their marriage. Warriors would believe that wearing red, and yellow would bring the strength of Maxim and Guy. The elves would travel throughout the world to seek wisdom from Artea. Other civillizations just recognized them as heros, their spirits were in paradise, and they lived happily.
Decendants of Maxim were carefully watched and raised, they were the strongest and smartest of warriors. Sean is the Twentieth generation, and he doesn't like being so carefully watched...

Chapter 1

The golden sun shone high in the sky a Sean carelessly leaned upon a large stone. Resting only for a moment on the outskirts of Gordovan.

Ugh! Training is so dull! Monsters are fun to kill and all, but all I ever see are newts and giant mosquitos... Those aren't monsters, those are pests! I wanna see some goblins, or an ork.

*I giant mosquito suddenly whizzes past Sean, only to be sliced in two, Two halves of insect lay before a Sean, his sword held to the right of him horizontally.*

Tch, I didn't even need to swing! So easy! How do they expect me to get stronger with training like this!

*Sean walks slowly over to the dead insect*

Arg, I need to get a new sword, this cut is so jagged, oh well, at least I can sell this peice of crap.

*Sean gingerly puts the mosquito halves into a sack filled with dead newts and other mosquitos, and starts to walk back to the town, only to noticed a wounded man walking down the path.*

<Okay, so as of now, there needs to be a shop keeper and te man walking down the path. C'mon, I wanna see how fun this can get!>

The man moaned. A young woman slowly walked after him, her arms folded. "Hey. Stop complaining, will you? I told you-"
"Shut up," the man snapped, clutching his right arm. "You could at least pretend you care a little..."
"It's your own fault and you know it. Now let's get to an inn and be done with this stupid village. My sword's getting bored."
"So your sword's more important than I am, huh. By the way," he added with a smirk, "I think you mean dull."
She twitched. "Want me to tear that wound wide open again?"

As they nagged on, they walked towards the village's inn, ignoring Sean and the villagers who stared after them. Indeed, they were a strange couple: the man, with black, long hair, was walking bent over while holding his arm. His clothes were torn with various rips in them, and blood was dripping slightly from his left leg. The young woman, on the contrary, had her head straight up, a bored look on her face. She had dark blue hair in a ponytail, and she had a perfectly clean green leather tunic on. They entered the inn, and the woman threw a bag of money on the counter. "One room for two." Nodding to her companion, she added, "Know any medics around here?"

A medic lived in town. He was a tall arrogant looking man. His long brown hair reached halfway down his back, tied in a pony tail. He inspected the wound on the man's arm and although he cared not for this man, he pulled out a flask of whiskey and poured it over the wound, slightly longer than normal. The man screamed and suddenly the medic found a sword at his throat.
"It's to clean out the wound so he doesn't die" said the medic quickly, sweat pouring off his forehead. The sword slowly moved away from his throat. The medic stood there panicking. Slowly and carefully he returned to the man's arm and with care born of fear stitched it up. He bandaged the arm up so as to protect it, showing more care than he normally would. He just wanted to be rid of the 2. He looked out the window and noticed 2 more strangers in town.

She turned away, and sheathed her sword. "Right. Just checking. How much do we... rather, how much does he owe you?"
She looked out of the window, seeing Sean walking around. Seeing the sheathed blade by his side, she grinned, feeling a little itch in her sword hand. "Hey, Ark. You go ahead and rest. I'm going... for a little walk."
The man, still panting from his treatment, gasped, "Are you... thinking... what I think you are?"
She turned back to him, her grin broadening. "What else?"

Sean coninued to walk with a bag of monsters slung over his back. He slowly headed for the shop but was stopped as a blade rested on his other shoulder...
In a flash Sean dropped the bag and drew his sword, swinging it just enough to bring the stangers blade to her side.
"So do you greet eveyone li-" Sean trailed off.

A woman... great, she thinks she wants to pick a fight with me, whatever... it's her neck. Wait, does she have...?

The medic informed Ark it would cost 150 for the treatment.
"Am I going to have to treat her or Sean when she's finished with him?"
He looked at the man who was still sweating and hurting from his injury.
"Here you go, here's something to numb the pain" he said as he handed the man a tablet. He just wanted the 2 people gone.

How did I not notice as soon as she walked by? Sean continued to think on, only dodging and parrying his opponent's blows.

"C'mon!" she said, "I wanna good fight!"
"Who ever said I wanted to fight anyway woman!?" Sean barked. "You are not welcome here!" Immidately the look of amusment faded from her eyes and changed to a look of offense and shock. "Cerulean hair is a curse in this town!"
Dumbfounded, his opponent sheathed her sword and grabbed a peice of hair from her bangs and looked at it. "You... you think I'm a curse..?"
"Woman do you not know your history!?"
"Quit calling me that! I have a name you know!"
"I know your name! You are the Sinistral of Death, Erim!"

(OOC: Ah, Rezic, I'm glad you're willing to start the RP up again. I really agree. But there are a few rules, I'm afraid, and one of them is not to use other people's characters without their permission. It's called godmoding, and is often frowned upon. In this case, she was still in the inn in my last post, and in your post, she's in mid-fight with you... For now, I'll just continue regardless, but please keep it in mind in future posts. )

(For now, I'll start a little before your post)

She left the inn, and ran after the man. "Hey." When he turned, she folded her arms, a small smile playing on her lips. "You're bored, aren't you? Your eyes tell your entire story. You fight for a living, but still... Your sword doesn't see proper use. Did I get you right so far?"
She grinned. "So. How about a little match? A little locking of blades. So far, I've found nothing but pushovers in these parts. How about it? Let's say... winner pays the loser 500 gold pieces?"
So let's see his answer... I wonder if he has that kind of money. Probably not...When he didn't react right away, she frowned. "No answer? Perhaps I'll answer for you then, shall I?"
She reached for her sheath, and drew a long katana from it. "Let's go."

Ark nodded. Man... what a rip-off... He's lucky Lana didn't hear him, or he'd have to treat himself next. He pointed to the table beneath the window next to his bed with his thumb. "Take what you need and leave. Thanks for your help." As he pointed, he noticed her fighting Sean. "Dear dear... She really can't keep still... Idiot."

She swung her sword at him lazily a few times, breaking his defence quite easily. "Hey, hey... You're full of openings, you know that? You could be dead with my next hit."
She jumped back, and beckoned him. "Come on, try and come at me, will you? At least make an attempt to keep me awake!"
She sighed. "And here I thought I might get something resembling a fight..."
"Who ever said I wanted to fight anyway, woman!?" Sean barked. "You are not welcome here!"
She shrugged.
She saw him eye her hair. "Cerulean hair is a curse in this town!"
Rolling her eyes, she said "Geez, is this one of those fairy tale based customs? You're even more pathetic than I thought."
"Woman do you not know your history!?"
She raised an eyebrow. "What, you know about me?"
"I know your name!" he shouted. "You are the Sinistral of Death, Erim!"

She leaned on her sword and folded her arms. "Sinistral of Death? Sounds dramatic. And your basis for believing that is... my hair colour?" She laughed in his face. "Then I know at least twenty more Sinistrals of Death!"
She straightened up, and raised her sword. "You're annoying, you know that? Even fighting with you is a bore. I'll just go ahead and end it. " She took two steps towards him. "Oh, but before that... Remember this."
As she swung her sword down, she finished: "I am Lana Alekdias, travelling mistress of the sword." She ran towards him, preparing to strike. "Ready yourself, and remember that name when you die!"

(OOC: srry>.< I haven't RPed in a long time, hence why I thought I'd revive the forum, I didn't know how far Godmodding was taken, the last forum I was at what I did was permitted T_T).

Sean readied himself, he looked reluctantly at his blade and hers... even if he was stronger than her... his blade wasn't going to last him the battle and he knew it.
"It's funny, I haven't had an excuse to use this in a long time!" Sean said, his voice raising steadily. The people who were watching immediately hid. His blade started to turn red and his hair slightly shifted as if there was a light wind.
"I hope you can take a little heat!" Sean took a vertical slice down and small wave of fire burst out from his blade.
"Party time! Let's see what you got Erim!"

(Ah well, when we get further, I won't have problems with it every now and then. It's just that this is the beginning, where we're still starting to shape our characters and their personalities, so it's better to start that on our own at first. It's not like we're really strict about it. )

Lana met his slice with a slash of her sword, and they clashed. She was chuckling. "Wow, not bad. You're full of surprises, aren't you?"
She applied pressure, but felt her opponent pushing harder. She frowned, and just before he could shove her sword away, she dodged sideways and counter-attacked. She missed.
He was about to strike back. "Party time! Let's see what you got, Erim!"
She rolled her eyes. "Hey, you. Have you been listening at all to what I just said?"
As her drew near, she raised her sword. "Pah. I don't care. You're clearly a thick one. But can you fight?"
He attacked again. This time, she dodged right away, and slashed back, cutting him slightly in the side. Now to stay on the offensive... She leapt up, and hacked right at his shoulder...

Sean chuckled confidently, only feeling the hit for a moment.
I need to build up speed, but can my sword handle it? He held his sword in the defensive to her blow, and as the swords collided a burst of fire rose up and flared at Lana's wrists, but as the flames settled, Lana stood on the ground. She looked at her left wrist, which had a small burn mark on it. Sean was on one knee from the force of the blow, a small slash in his shirt, and a scratch on his shoulder.
That answers that question... he thought to himself as he looked at his blade, now cut in two, smoke rising from them. He shrugged and grinned a fool's grin.
He looked up at Lana and threw his broken blade at her at full force, it started to spin faster and faster, as flames burst from the blade. As it built up speed it morphed into a whirling flame disc flying straight for her stomach.

Not bad... Lana thought to herself. She prepared for his next attack, then saw that his blade was split in two. She smirked. "Heh... That's what you get from tricks like these. It was fun while it lasted, I guess..."
She stopped as he chucked the blade at her. "What the..." The disc shot at her. Assuming a defensive stance, she raised her katana. The flaming disc made contact. For a split second, they were in a clash. Then, the disc slipped down and thrust across her left leg, before it shot at the ground behind her, where it lay motionless. She felt a searing pain in her upper leg. "Damn it..." She looked downwards, and saw blood dripping to the ground from a large cut.
She tested her leg, and found she had a slight difficulty standing. Pah... I can still walk. And run if I have to. I'll get that bar steward back for a trick like that... She walked calmly towards her opponent, weary of even the slightest movement behind her, ready to turn in case the disc would rise up again.

Sean smirked, he saw in Lana's eyes that she was wary of another attack.
"Don't worry, I'm pretty much powerless without a sword... I think you've convinced me... Erim would have killed me by now." Sean slowly got up and grabbed his two sword peices.
"I can still get some money for the metal in this I hope..." Sean got up, grabbed his side, and walked slowly passed Lana, and headed straight for the shop. He took enough steps that he judged was a "I-don't-really-care" distance of Lana and looked over his shoulder.
"You did put up a good fight, I haven't had a fight with a woman like that in three years. You're nowhere near as good as she was though..."

Why did I say that...?

The townsfolk stared at Sean walking down the path, then at Lana with shock.
"She actually got a hit in on him!" she heard somone say in the distance.

"Hold it!" She followed him with a slight difficulty, but caught up nonetheless. "I haven't heard you accept defeat yet. Besides, five hundred gold pieces, remember?"
She frowned. "Then again, a battle like that wasn't worth more than one hundred. I'll let you get off with that." She was about to sheathe her sword, when she heard a passing villager mutter his amazement that she had managed to land a blow on the man. She gritted her teeth. "Now they've done it." She took her sword and with a slash, cut his leg in the same area she was, creating a slightly smaller but still considerable wound. "There we go, now we're even." She smirked. "Hate me now? Come after me and fight me again, then. I'll be waiting." She turned around, waving the blood off her katana and sheathing it. Still... if he hadn't been carrying such a pathetic blade, things might have become interesting. He had some wild techniques... or at least his sword did.With that, she left for the inn.